Kingston Rapper Demands Coca-Cola Stop Stealing His Trademark

Brandon Richmond, a rapper from Kingston, Ont., who goes by the name B. Rich, has posted a video on YouTube demanding that Coca-Cola stop using his catchphrase on their bottles.

The rapper was shopping at a Toronto grocery store when he found a Coca-Cola bottle with the phrase “Out for a Rip” on the label. On November 2013, Richmond released a music video on YouTube for his song ‘Out for a Rip’ and has since been viewed more than 12 million times.

“It’s kind of neat to see a thing that I created and here it is on this iconic product,” he said. “But then, on the other side of it, it’s a total bummer. Because that’s my thing and nobody asked me if it was OK to go ahead and use that.”

Richmond says he is disturbed that someone could just steal his phrase without asking for a license.

“It just kind of sets a not-very-good precedent that an independent artist could have his things applied to other products when it’s not really how it should go,” Richmond said.

“You would think a company like Coke could find it in its budget to negotiate a licence with a musician that clearly has rights to a phrase that they’re planning on using.”